Sunday May 26, 2019

We are in Banja Luka with the Brewers tonight.  We attended church in Zagreb this morning then drove to Banja Luka.  We will visit the women's safe house in the morning to check the progress on the replacement of the doors and frames.  If the weather cooperates we'll spend some time sightseeing with Brewers before heading home to Sarajevo.

Zagreb Branch President Domagoj Kobešćak

It has been a busy week for us.  We drove to Bihać Monday morning and arrived at the soup kitchen to find the media waiting for us.  So before we even saw the new kitchen equipment, we were interviewed by local TV and radio.  We don't understand the language well enough to know what is being said about us or the projects.

Sidik being interviewed by media

We donated a large commercial cooking pot/unit for the kitchen.  They finally have the electrical issues resolved and started using the unit about 3 weeks ago.

New cooking unit in the soup kitchen

This kitchen provides about 360 meals each day to the unemployed, home-bound, disabled, and homeless in the community.  They have recently partnered with the local Red Cross to provide some meals for the refugee camp nearby.

Beans and sausage in the new cooker

They told us the new equipment has cut their meal prep/cooking time from 5 hours to one hour.  This additional time will allow them time to do the Red Cross meals, plus additional meals for the community.

Wednesday was our only day at home.  We managed to plant our "deck garden": 2 pots for tomatoes and four flower pots.  We left on Thursday and hope they have survived in our absence.

We have been working on another kitchen project at the refugee family center outside of Zagreb.  It was a nasty, dirty room when we were approached and now it is so pretty to look at.

The kitchen was gutted and we replaced the window, all the floor-to-ceiling wall tiles, the cupboards and counter top, and all new appliances.  IKEA needs to return and fix a couple things they did wrong and Red Cross will replace the ceiling lights, then it will be finished.  This kitchen will be a blessing for the mothers in the center to prepare baby formula or to cook a traditional meal once in awhile.  The women also like to gather there to socialize while they cook and feed the babies.

We thought we had an appointment on Friday in the city but it fell through so we did some shopping and wandering around the city.

Euro(pee)an culture in the park across from the mission office

Saturday was the annual mission sponsored Krešimir Ćosić basketball tournament.  Teams from each country in the mission are invited to participate.  Our Bosnian team fell apart a couple weeks before the tournament - our one remaining player was loaned to Serbia so he could participate.

Teams getting pre-game instructions

Jasmin (our Bosnian member) in action

After the tournament we ate dinner at a Croatian restaurant close to our hotel.  We stay at this hotel frequently and wish we had discovered this little place sooner.  I had sarma, one of my favorite Balkan dishes.

Beetroot salad and sarma with mashed potatoes, my favorite Balkan meal

John had roast veal with mashed potatoes and vegetables

Life is good in the Adriatic North Mission.  We love serving here and all the wonderful things we get to do!